Antonio L. Cortés
| Office | Northern California |
| Phone | 707.522.1100 ext 1136 |
| Fax | 707.522.1101 |
| acortes@smithdollar.com |
Biography
Antonio L. Cortés offers over twenty-one years of civil and business litigation experience including copyright infringement, intellectual property, real property and mortgage litigation, corporate control, contract litigation, torts, construction defects, liens, bad faith, wrongful terminations, sexual harassment, government claims, government contract litigation, land claims, collections, breach of warranty, trade secret misappropriations, voting rights and civil rights.
Mr. Cortés has litigated numerous disputes in California, Palau, and Guam involving defects in title, commercial leases, the partition of real property, construction defects, unlawful detainer, mortgage and deed validity issues, easements and access rights, and lien foreclosure. He has extensive lease-preparation experience for both public and private clients and has handled the merger of two foreign owned Guam corporations, and has organized a Guam Limited Liability Company. Mr. Cortés defended corporate clients against dissolution and securities fraud actions in California, and has prosecuted a shareholders' inspection action in Palau.
Antonio L. Cortés, in addition to practicing law in the United States, is licensed and has practiced in Guam, and as General Legal Counsel for the Koror State Government, Republic of Palau. In that capacity he also represented the Koror State Public Land Authority, a public entity owning over half of the land in the State of Koror.
Mr. Cortés experience includes:
· In Palau, successfully litigated the constitutionality of the Koror Constitution, and obtained a Supreme Court ruling setting the Koror-Peleliu boundary to include Palau's famous Rock Islands within the jurisdiction of Koror State.
· Advised the Koror State Legislature and Administration during governmental reorganization by constitutional amendment.
· Analyzed Palau's telecommunications-regulation regime for Iridium, LLP, and its tobacco-related laws and regulations for a major tobacco company.
· Structured and negotiated the complex settlement of a 15-year-old dispute between the Republic of Palau and the State of Koror settling ownership of over half the land area of Koror.
· Obtained options for an American developer to lease several hotel sites on public and private land in the Palauan State of Peleliu.
· In Guam, he assisted Bank of Hawaii to obtain the refund of a large overbilling by Guam Telephone Authority and prosecuted a successful Sunshine Act suit for the Pacific Daily News against the Guam Housing Corporation.
· Litigated trade secret misappropriation cases involving computer software, biological processes, and bicycle-fork design, and litigated patent and copyright infringement cases involving industrial biological processes and computer software.
· Prepared and litigated numerous commercial contracts.
· Extensive experience with collection work for banks, hotels, construction and industrial firms.
· Serviced and represented American banks with respect to tax credits for loans to Mexican and South American governments and government-affiliated entities.
Bar admissions
- All California Courts
- All Courts of Guam
- All Courts of the Republic of Palau
- United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- United States District Court, Northern District of California
- United States District Court, Southern District of California
- United States District Court, Central District of California
- United States District Court, District of Guam
Education
Mr. Cortés attended the University of California, Berkeley where he received an A.B., Rhetoric with highest honors, highest distinction in general scholarship and the departmental citation. He received his J.D. from Yale Law School.
Professional associations and memberships
Member, Sonoma County Bar Association